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DEARBORN, Mich. (Reuters) - Hundreds of worshipers gathered on Friday for the
first prayer session at a gilded new mosque that is yet another facility to
serve the large Muslim population around Detroit.
A gold-domed mosque flanked by two minarets and a banquet hall were part of a
$14 million expansion project to a Muslim school that, taken together, is now
the Islamic Center of America, a 70,000 square-foot facility.
When a 700-seat auditorium and a two-story library and school are also
completed, it will likely become the largest Islamic center in North America,
Muslim officials said.
"The center is a symbol of the sharp growth and advancement of our Muslim
community," Imam Hassan al-Qazwini, the spiritual leader of the mosque, told
Reuters.
The main prayer hall accommodates 1,000 people, including 700 men in one area
and 300 women in a balcony.
Builders imported doors from Turkey, wood from the Philippines, granite from
India and Brazil, and chandeliers from Egypt, said Alan Abbas, who built the
center.
"It has been a labor of love," said Abbas, an immigrant from Lebanon.
The mosque is only a few miles from the new Arab American National Museum,
the first museum in the United States dedicated exclusively to Arab Americans.
It also opened doors this month.
Al-Qazwini said a major goal of the new mosque will be to reach out to
non-Muslims to educate people about Islam.
"The center will offer a great opportunity for non-Muslims to come and learn
about Islam," he said. "There are many misconceptions existing in the mind of
non-Muslims in this country about Islam, unfortunately."
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